Post by Stu-E Price on Sept 18, 2007 17:17:00 GMT -5
FLORIDA
On the first anniversary of Davey's car accident, he got a call from Pat Patterson at the WWF. It was just before SummerSlam 1990. Ed Leslie—better known as Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake—had been in a boating accident and was just about killed. Brutus was trying to assist a female acquaintance as she made her first parasailing landing and her knee hit him right in the face at over 40 miles per hour. This pushed his nose so far back into his head that it skimmed his brain. The collision also broke his top jaw.
Brutus was in critical condition. His best friend Hulk Hogan got in touch with one of the best plastic surgeons in all of United States and said, “As a favor to me, can you help? Brutus is going to die if you don't." An arrangement was made. Hulk would visit a lot of sick kids at the hospital and the plastic surgeon performed a 12-hour surgery on Brutus.
He recovered, but was warned that if he wrestled again, his face could shatter. Needless to say, he eventually wrestled anyway.
Brutus was scheduled to wrestle the ‘Texas Tornado’ Kerry Von Erich for the Intercontinental Championship Belt at SummerSlam. Brutus was the heel and Kerry was the baby face. But now Brutus was out of commission. The WWF called and asked Davey to replace Brutus even though Vince would have preferred Davey to come back as a baby face. While we waited for the WWF to get Davey's working visa in order, we went to Florida to see Brutus.
We stayed at Jim and Ellie's place. I loved being around Ellie's daughters but Davey and I knew Jim was possessive and didn't really want anyone in his little castle so we made ourselves scarce.
We could hear Jim screaming at Ellie, “When is your family going to leave?"
“You would be nowhere if it wasn't for my family," Ellie fought back. “I never complain when you have your friends over." It was a constant war.
While we were down in Florida, Davey and I rethought our whole situation. We saw a show home about half a mile away from Ellie and Jim's place. I loved it. Besides all the trouble I was having in Calgary with my family, I was worried about Davey's involvement with Hermish and Ben. I hoped we could start a new life again in a new place. If Davey signed with the WWF, we would be closer to his wrestling venues. We bought the home with $1,000 down payment.
Davey's visa could not be processed in time for SummerSlam, but the WWF wanted him back anyway and they started to prepare a story line for his return.
It only took two months of living in Florida to know that I had made a mistake. I wanted to be back in Calgary, living with my family. But two months turned into six years.
I used to think if I were back up in Calgary things would be better. I started to blame Florida for my unhappiness, but it wasn't Florida. Florida's a beautiful state.
On the first anniversary of Davey's car accident, he got a call from Pat Patterson at the WWF. It was just before SummerSlam 1990. Ed Leslie—better known as Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake—had been in a boating accident and was just about killed. Brutus was trying to assist a female acquaintance as she made her first parasailing landing and her knee hit him right in the face at over 40 miles per hour. This pushed his nose so far back into his head that it skimmed his brain. The collision also broke his top jaw.
Brutus was in critical condition. His best friend Hulk Hogan got in touch with one of the best plastic surgeons in all of United States and said, “As a favor to me, can you help? Brutus is going to die if you don't." An arrangement was made. Hulk would visit a lot of sick kids at the hospital and the plastic surgeon performed a 12-hour surgery on Brutus.
He recovered, but was warned that if he wrestled again, his face could shatter. Needless to say, he eventually wrestled anyway.
Brutus was scheduled to wrestle the ‘Texas Tornado’ Kerry Von Erich for the Intercontinental Championship Belt at SummerSlam. Brutus was the heel and Kerry was the baby face. But now Brutus was out of commission. The WWF called and asked Davey to replace Brutus even though Vince would have preferred Davey to come back as a baby face. While we waited for the WWF to get Davey's working visa in order, we went to Florida to see Brutus.
We stayed at Jim and Ellie's place. I loved being around Ellie's daughters but Davey and I knew Jim was possessive and didn't really want anyone in his little castle so we made ourselves scarce.
We could hear Jim screaming at Ellie, “When is your family going to leave?"
“You would be nowhere if it wasn't for my family," Ellie fought back. “I never complain when you have your friends over." It was a constant war.
While we were down in Florida, Davey and I rethought our whole situation. We saw a show home about half a mile away from Ellie and Jim's place. I loved it. Besides all the trouble I was having in Calgary with my family, I was worried about Davey's involvement with Hermish and Ben. I hoped we could start a new life again in a new place. If Davey signed with the WWF, we would be closer to his wrestling venues. We bought the home with $1,000 down payment.
Davey's visa could not be processed in time for SummerSlam, but the WWF wanted him back anyway and they started to prepare a story line for his return.
It only took two months of living in Florida to know that I had made a mistake. I wanted to be back in Calgary, living with my family. But two months turned into six years.
I used to think if I were back up in Calgary things would be better. I started to blame Florida for my unhappiness, but it wasn't Florida. Florida's a beautiful state.